CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

He hadn't meant to kill her. He had found himself torn between obeying her rules and doing what he could to protect her. True that he had been facing some errors lately with his software, but nothing that could've forewarned what he was capable of. Had this been caused by the same glitch or was it something different?

There were numerous news reports of "deviants" in Detroit. Some of them merely injured their owners, while others actually killed them – whether by accident or not, he didn't know. He never thought he'd have it in himself to kill anyone, but he felt as if he had no other choice. Artie's life was the most important thing to him. He would rather be deactivated than know that she would no longer be in this world.

The… The emotions just completely clouded his mind and it was as if there was no other option for him other than to show that affection. She had felt so warm and soft against him. For a moment, he thought his central processing unit had temporarily shut down. He wasn't able to process anything, except the fact that he was actually kissing her and she wasn't moving away.

When he broke away, the thirium in his body was still pumping so quickly through his system that it was beginning to overheat and in his attempt to try to cool himself off, he barely heard the way she murmured his name. He did, however, manage to bring himself down a few degrees and eventually apologised to her for his actions.

She wanted nothing of it and proceeded to sabotage him once more by pressing her lips upon his. His temperature spiked, but he still managed to bring her just a little bit closer. Judging by the fact that she gave him no complaints, he gathered that he was not harming her with the heat radiating from his body.

Unfortunately, the moment came to an abrupt end. He had called the police in hopes that they would help them. Instead, they were going to tear them apart.

He wanted to stay with her, even at the risk of his own existence, but her logic had given him no choice. At that time, he had been convinced that he wasn't deviant – that he didn't have emotions, despite impulsively claiming her lips, so she gave him a command. What else could he do but to listen?

So he ran… He ran like a coward and he didn't stop running, until he tripped over something in an alley and came slamming down on to the ground. There was a small tear on his right sleeve that instinctively made him want to look for a sewing kit. Fighting his programming, once more, he decided to look at what had obstructed his way.

His eyes travelled to the feet where only one still had a single dress shoe attached to it. His gaze went further to see the torn, beige trousers and a heavily stained white dress shirt that was covered with grime and thirium.

The PJ500 android's eyes were closed and the LED was off. Upon scanning him, he noticed that he was still fully functional and none of the biocomponents were damaged. "Are you okay?"

There was a moment before the android woke up from standby mode. Dark eyes scanned him before he spoke. "Are you free, as well?"

Simon wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. He had never considered himself a captive and would gladly return if he didn't think that it would get Artie into trouble, but it didn't seem like this was what the PJ500 meant. "I am… I am a deviant if that is what you mean. I went against my owner's wishes."

The other android sighed. "I wish I had done that before they got to me first."

"What happened?" Simon asked, looking again at all the injuries that littered the android's body.

"I was returning to my station at the university when a group of students attacked me. They were drunk and fuelled by the hatred that is beginning to consume the city. I also managed to break through the walls of my programming and ran, but I have lost too much thirium. It won't be long before my biocomponents begin to fail me."

Simon wondered what to do. He knew where he could get more thirium, but it would require using her VIVA card information that was still linked to his system. Would she be angry? He really wished that she was there to tell him what to do.

"Stay here. I will retrieve some for you and then, we will seal the wound," he stated, already standing up.

"Thank you," the android smiled at him. "I'm Josh."

"Simon."

With that, he made himself back out of the alley and walked quickly to the shop that was selling bottles of thirium. He hoped that there weren't broadcasts of his image on the media, yet, but it was a risk he was going to have to take.

He took two bottles of thirium and a few other items before going to the counter where the monetary transfer went through smoothly.

As he was heading back, he could see a mob of protestors quickly moving his way. He couldn't afford a repeat of what happened last time. Artie wasn't there to give him a proper scan or repairs if anything happened and there was already an injured android that needed tending to.

He dodged through another crowd of people, took a sharp turn between two builds, and ran as quickly as he could the rest of the way.

Josh slowly lifted his head at his arrival and he quickly gave the android the bottle.

"Trouble?" Josh asked, twisting the cap off and taking several long gulps, while Simon looked at his wounds.

"Something like that," Simon mumbled, taking out a small sewing kit from the brown paper bag and began to carefully stitch the gashes. "Nothing to worry about."

Once he was done, he worked on his torn sleeve as Josh did a maintenance scan.

"We should go before anyone finds us here," Josh suggested. "We need to find a place where humans won't terrorise us."

With a nod, Simon followed him out of the alley.